Tag Archives: red lentil

Nearly every Sunday afternoon I like to make something to pack in my lunch for my busy work week. I figure that if I have something tasty to take with me to work, it will keep me away from eating out or hitting the fast food drive thrus. Today I decided to make Red Lentil Soup with Turkey.

Earlier this morning I visited a newly formed food cooperative for the first time here in town. I found some gorgeous locally grown carrots and a screaming deal on organic red lentils. The lentils rang up at $2.39 a pound… Generally red lentils are not exactly the easiest legume to find nor are they the cheapest. I heard someone refer to these tasty little lentils as “designer beans”. I say I don’t care what you call them because they taste great to me and now I know where to get them!

Red Lentils

My Red Lentil Soup with Turkey is easy to make, tastes wonderful and is good for you. It has gorgeous red lentils, roasted turkey, bright orange carrots, onion, celery, and wonderful Moroccan spice blend called Ras El Hanout. Don’t worry, at the bottom of the post, I have my version of the spice blend if you don’t have it in your cupboard. Enjoy! Tessa

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils (picked over carefully and rinsed well)

1 quart chicken stock

2 carrots (chopped)

1 rib celery (chopped)

1/2 onion (chopped)

1 tsp canola oil

1/2 pound roasted or precooked turkey

2 tsp Ras El Hanout

1 tsp garlic paste

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

garnish with fresh chopped parsley

Pick over, wash and drain your lentils. Set aside. In a medium sized saucepan, over a medium flame, saute your carrots, onion, celery in canola oil until the onions are translucent. Add the red lentils, turkey, chicken stock, garlic paste, salt and Ras El Hanout blend. Cook covered for about 30-45 minutes. I like to cook my soup for about 45 minutes because I like it when the lentils start to get really tender and break down. Makes about 4 servings.

Ras El Hanout

Mix together in a small bowl the following ground spices. Be sure to put the mixture in a tight fitting jar and store in a cool dry place.

2 teaspoons each – ginger and coriander

1 1/2 teaspoons – cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric and nutmeg

1 teaspoon – allspice

1/2 teaspoon – cloves

I reused an old spice jar for storing the Ras El Hanout. I wrote the ingredients and ratios on the back of the jar. That way, when I run low on the spice blend, I just read the back and mix up another batch. Enjoy! Tessa